I have a 13" MacBook Pro with 4 GB RAM.
My Finder shows me losing space gradually over time. I don't know much about Macs but I'll give what I know. It has nothing to do with downloading. When I add the sizes of all the folders in "Macintosh HD" (Users + Library + Applications + System +...) I'm using around 190 GB of my 250 GB HDD.
However, I only have 34 GB left, according to Finder, down from 37 GB just an hour ago. I've been having this problem for a few days, and have been deleting data because my available space has been dipping below the 10% mark.
I ran GrandPerspective and it showed that the directory "Macintosh HD/private/var (which I can't see in "Macintosh HD" but can access directly through GrandPerspective) is taking up 30 something GB. There are a bunch of files and folders inside of "var", one of which is a folder called "vm" taking up 4.83 GB space: it has 6 files, swap files 1 to five, and then a file called sleepfile which is taking up 4.2 GB.
The other folder taking up a ton of space other than "vm" in the directory "Macintosh HD/private/var" is a folder called "log" (31 GB). in this one, there are a bunch of files and folders two, but the big one is a file called kernel.log.0, which is 29.51 GB.
Okay, so I know what's taking up space, but I have two problems. First, what's causing these files in this hidden directory to become so large, and how can i stop it?
Second, is it ok to just delete these files and get rid of them? Some of the other files in these directories are not accessible or editable to me (even though they aren't taking up much space), so I sort of got the impression that the files in this directory may be important (especially as the directory is hidden from users).
Also, to inform you potential helpers of recent changes to my computer, I recently installed Traktor Pro, Last FM Scrobbler, and have been using Time Machine more often just because my external hard drive has been connected to my laptop more often.
Thanks hugely in advance!
My Finder shows me losing space gradually over time. I don't know much about Macs but I'll give what I know. It has nothing to do with downloading. When I add the sizes of all the folders in "Macintosh HD" (Users + Library + Applications + System +...) I'm using around 190 GB of my 250 GB HDD.
However, I only have 34 GB left, according to Finder, down from 37 GB just an hour ago. I've been having this problem for a few days, and have been deleting data because my available space has been dipping below the 10% mark.
I ran GrandPerspective and it showed that the directory "Macintosh HD/private/var (which I can't see in "Macintosh HD" but can access directly through GrandPerspective) is taking up 30 something GB. There are a bunch of files and folders inside of "var", one of which is a folder called "vm" taking up 4.83 GB space: it has 6 files, swap files 1 to five, and then a file called sleepfile which is taking up 4.2 GB.
The other folder taking up a ton of space other than "vm" in the directory "Macintosh HD/private/var" is a folder called "log" (31 GB). in this one, there are a bunch of files and folders two, but the big one is a file called kernel.log.0, which is 29.51 GB.
Okay, so I know what's taking up space, but I have two problems. First, what's causing these files in this hidden directory to become so large, and how can i stop it?
Second, is it ok to just delete these files and get rid of them? Some of the other files in these directories are not accessible or editable to me (even though they aren't taking up much space), so I sort of got the impression that the files in this directory may be important (especially as the directory is hidden from users).
Also, to inform you potential helpers of recent changes to my computer, I recently installed Traktor Pro, Last FM Scrobbler, and have been using Time Machine more often just because my external hard drive has been connected to my laptop more often.
Thanks hugely in advance!
